Being a fan of the Arizona Coyotes is not the easiest thing in the world. Between all of the arena drama that has been taking place practically since the team moved to Arizona in 1996 and lackluster play through a better part of a decade, fans in the Valley are forced to deal with a lot. Over the first half of this season, it seemed people finally had something to be excited about when it came to the Coyotes. 240229 Post Tourigny It wasn’t that they were just performing at a high level, but the Coyotes had their own identity. Arizona played with speed, physicality and passion that made the team so exciting to watch. Their newfound energy translated into wins as the Coyotes found themselves battling for a wild card spot in the Western Conference really up until the All-Star break. Then everything suddenly changed. It started late in January when a report came out stating that Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith formally asked the NHL to initiate the expansion process and bring a team to Salt Lake City. With the Coyotes still searching for an arena, relocation rumors started spreading like rapid fire. There was constant outside noise from media pundits and fans about the potential of the team moving to Salt lake City, causing quite the distraction. To say that these rumors affected the Coyotes, it’s hard to say, but it certainly didn’t seem to help them whatsoever. 20240214_Armstrong_Ludwig_ContractExtension_FTP Arizona did not win a single game in the month of February and are now on a 14-game losing, practically crushing all of their playoff hopes. This season was supposed to be different for the Coyotes until it wasn’t. While the Coyotes weren’t necessarily expected to make the playoffs going into the year, their play gave the Valley a sense of hope that just maybe this team really did have something special. It’s hard to explain, but the Coyotes had a destiny type feel almost. For months they continued to overcome all the outside noise and the magnitude of their victories felt significant despite it just being the regular season. Now though, Arizona is in a very similar position as they have been for what seems like almost every season for the past decade: at the bottom of the standings and waiting to see if they can get lucky in the draft lottery. It’s disappointing for the fans, players, coaches and really everyone around the organization. These are the kind of moments that make winning in the future so much sweeter. Coach André Tourigny said it himself that sometimes it takes pain to truly learn how to win and one day this young Coyotes team will look back and actually be better for the struggles that they are currently going through. Some rebuilds take one year and some others take ten years. The Coyotes will have to wait a little bit longer before the team truly prospers into the playoffs. Who knows what the future holds, but losing is a tough yet necessary part of the rebuilding process.
